Just for fun...What is everyone reading??

Have to post the synopsis of this book, can't recommend it enough ... Genesis Code by John Case

Synopsis (from BN.com)

In a remote hill town in Italy, a renowned scientist enters the confessional. A dying man, he pours out the secret that has consumed his life for years - a sin of such magnitude that the shocked priest refuses him absolution.

In a suburb of Washington DC, Joe Lassiter's only sister and her young son have been killed in a sudden fire that engulfs their home. The police believe it was arson; they soon discover that mother and child were brutally murdered before the blaze was set.

As Lassiter tries to find out why they were killed, he comes to believe others may have been murdered in similar fashion. And still more people may die if he cannot discover the elusive connection that links the innocent victims together.

Roctobermom, thanks for the tip.  Found the John Case book at the local used book store today for a buck!  As soon as I catch up on my text book reading (I'm 3 chapters behind and will loan my book to a gal in class who can't afford one for just one semester, and I'm just auditing) I'll be enjoying it!

Rocktobermom:

I am reading the Genesis Code now (on your recommendation) and it is fantastic!!!    I'm about half-way through and I already want to read other books by him (John Case).

Raye:

I've read a couple of the P.J. Parrish books too:  Dark of the Moon and A Thousand Bones.  You are right that they are written by two women - sisters, actually.  I heard one of them interviewed on WJR radio here in the Detroit area recently and that was when I got hooked.  They are from Michigan but live elsewhere now.  A couple other of their books are Paint it Black and Thicker than Water - I haven't read those yet but I agree they are very good.

Pat

Just read "How To Outsmart Your Cancer" -- not sure who the author is.  It was a great read  - very different  but interesting about Alternative Meds.  I must say, I could possibly be interested in trying several of these ways of curing cancer -- there are so many success storys that it is definitely worth reading!

Beth

I just read "Undressing the Moon" by Tammy Greenwood.  The main character has breast cancer, though the story is not "about" breast cancer as such.  It was dark and I wouldn't recommend it to someone newly diagnosed or even those of us who are moving beyond.

Also read Joan Didion's biography/memoir "The Year of Magical Thinking".  While this was mostly about the grief surrounding her husband's sudden death, there were elements of this book that would apply to breast cancer suvivors...loss and grief are universal.

I just finished a book called "Manny" about a guy nanny.  Pretty quick light read.

I just finished The Friday Night Knitting Club (Jacobs), about a single mother who owns her own knitting shop in NYC and the various characters that flow through her life via a Friday night club that sort of sprang up on its own. The author presents various knitting techniques and issues as a metaphor for life issues. Not bad. Without being a spoiler though, I'll say that though it seems to be a light read, the end is quite serious and even a bit disturbing.

~Marin

I am currently reading Chill Factor by Sandra Brown.  It is pretty good. 

Wow - I haven't checked in since I went in for my bilat mastectomies and reconstruction. I'll try and remember what I've read. Firstly, I finished the 900+ pages of Tony Judt's Post War and it was mightly worth the read. A foundation in recent history gives the best perspective on events in the present day. Zadie Smith's On Beauty - a sensitive, hilarious, provocative novel with a fascinating strong female protagonist A NYTimes 10 Best Books of the Year. Love, Medicine & Miracles, Bernie Siegel, MD - given to me by a well-meaning friend. A somewhat dated book that encourages you to find what negative destructive need within you invited illness and to use positive imagery, etc. to heal yourself.<gag> Then I got on a bit of an Ian McEwan kick - wanted to read Atonement before it became "a major motion picture" and destroyed my own visuals. What a wonderful book. A short novel, but full of complex characters and vivid, gripping, intense interactions. His other one, Amsterdam, winner of the Booker Prize, is another short novel - essentially a portrait of two men; having in common only that at some point they were lovers of Molly, the woman whose funeral the book opens with. A delightful piece of writing, chronicling the trainwreck of two lives. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky - A novel set on the eve of the Nazi occupation of France, the peasantry to the local aristocracy learning to coexist with the enemy. Gives a personal sense of the futility, the loss of control a simple family experienced. A highly successful writer living in Paris, this book remained hidden and unknown for 64 years after the author was deported to Auschwitz, where she died. Amy Hempel's Collected Stories - 'stunning stories about marriages , minor disasters and moments of revelation'. This woman has a gift. Next came The Meaning of Night A Confession by Michael Cox - set in Victorian England, a story of murder, obsession, love, betrayal, wealth, vengeance, even opium. Highly praised critically, I give it a B-. But that may be because I had Mark Helprin's The Pacific and Other Stories to compare it with. This is probably my favorite living writer in the English language and this is his first published work of fiction in nearly a decade. Sixteen stories, each a jewel, polished prose - powerful and passionate.

I am currently finishing up a bit of non-fiction, the 1916 work by Frank Harris, the biography Oscar Wilde. Yes, I know it turns out tragically and then even more so, but this is supposed to be the best one and I wanted to read more on this genius. Soon I want to find a good book on Benjamin Disraeli, so if anyone has any recommendations, let's have 'em!

May have to pick up Genesis Code in the meantime.

Lisa

Greg Isles has become one of my fav authors!  I got the latest book for Christmas and am saving it for the winter blues--Feb. or there about.

Just finished with Lisa Jackson's Twice Kissed.... It was pretty good

I've been listening to audio books also, I've started listening to Clive Cussler and Nelson Demille love the suspense

peace

V

I just finished A Thousand Years Over A Hot Stove, A History of American Women Told Through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances by Laura Schenone.   A very good read and had some fascinating history about immigration and food all intertwined that helped shape our country and what we eat today. 

 I received four books for Christmas: 

I'm in the middle of Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips by Kris Carr, she's pretty funny.  

 I also started Stephen Colbert's I Am America (and so can you).  

He's hysterical!

Also, Lisa's Story by Tom Batiuk but I'm not ready to read that one yet already knowing the ending.

The last is a book called Animal, Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver about her family's attempt to eat only locally grown foods for one year.  

Deb,

i love to read,too. i also enjoy Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovitch.

Nora Roberts  novels are most enjoyable.

this Fall,I discovered a new book series about a female detective living in Botswana, by Alexander McCall Smith. 

Right now,i'm reading Richard North Patterson's Exile. It's very good. 

Karoline 

I just started "The Follower" by Jason Starr and I literally do not want to put this book down.  I have never read Starr before and if this book remains as good as it started, I will look for everything else he has written.T  It reminds me of Chic Lit written by a guy with some stalking, date rape, and I am sure there will be a murder or two.  So far it is about a bunch of 20-30 somethings in Manhattan.  I can't wait to read more.

Am I the only one reading good books these days?  I just got Glenn Becks "An Inconvenient Book" out of the library and hope to start it tonight.